Market Trends
Now that we are past the spring selling season and into the lull that comes before the pre-holiday pickup, some interesting trends have appeared (at least to us who have been trend wonks for years). In no particular order of importance they are: Listing inventory is at long last climbing. This year began with the…
Institutional Investors Drive Our Market??
From Michael Orr: According to most of the media. the housing market in the USA is currently “dominated by institutional investors”. The largest of these (by far) is Blackstone (BX) which has about $60B in real estate assets under management. It currently owns about 31,000 single family homes in the USA with a total book…
There is no Inverse Correlation Between Interest Rates and Home Prices
From Michael Orr of the Cromford Report: “There is no inverse correlation between interest rates and home prices. In the past, home prices have often gone up when interest rates went up and they have also gone up when interest rates went down. Home prices only go down in unusual situations when supply is well…
Is Blackstone Really Making a Difference in Phoenix?
From Michael Orr of the Cromford Report: “There have been few topics as subject to wildly untrue reporting as the institutional investment in single family homes. I noted an interesting post in the Blackstone Blog two days ago that I think addresses some of the popular misconceptions about the situation and I commend it to…
Is The Housing Market Dominated by Institutional Investors?
More from the brilliant Michael Orr: “We keep reading everywhere that the housing market is “dominated by institutional investors”. This is often taken to be 1. true and 2. a bad thing and sometimes suggested as a pre-cursor to a market collapse. All of these ideas are based on a false perception of the fundamental…
From Michael Orr’s Cromford Report
This is too great not to share: A very misleading view of the US housing market has been written recently by Heidi Moore of the Guardian, and given prominent publicity by Yahoo as if it were a serious analysis. It is based on several flawed assumptions and therefore arrives at incorrect conclusions . You can…
How a Seller Can Lose Value in An Overheated Seller’s Market (or oops I made a mistake in selling)
After years of the most brutal buyer’s market the Valley has ever endured, sellers are now enjoying the pendulum swing favoring them.  Values are continuing to edge upwards and sellers are frequently receiving multiple contracts – often within days of offering their home for sale. With the real estate market so clearly favoring the seller,…
How to Avoid a Bidding War
Right now in most areas of the country inventory is low and buyers are fiercely competing for houses. In the Greater Phoenix area this is happening like never before! Why is housing inventory so low? In late 2006 we had over 400 active home builders here in the valley. By late 2008 that number was…
Yes, Virginia. The Market is UP!
As 2013 approaches the halfway mark, the local market trends continue to strengthen their path. As agents, we continue to be amazed at what a strong real estate recovery is underway in the valley. But, as always, there is what the market is doing and then what people think the market is doing. Public sentiment…
April’s Tug of War
With 2013 well underway, we continue to observe the clear signs of recovery. Like most transitions, this one is not without its challenges, but the upward trajectory seems clear to anyone observing facts rather than emotions. However, there is a lag from the time facts become available until public sentiment broadly accepts those facts. Remember…